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Poo furore stalls bird flu study

4 September 2004

ARE migratory birds helping to spread the H5N1 bird flu devastating east Asian poultry flocks? And could they carry it as far as Australia? A study to find out by analysing droppings from the migratory birds that return to Queensland’s Heron Island each summer could be delayed for a year by bureaucratic wrangling.

Renowned flu expert Graeme Laver, formerly of the Australian National University, planned to collect fresh droppings using no more than a plastic sheet. This week he received a permit from the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, only to be told by the Queensland Department of Primary Industries …